TAC plates

[ffr79]

Can anyone tell me if the vehicle TAC numbers are they painted  then the stickers put on
because the 1st division sticker is smaller

Thanks

[Diana Alan]

Depends on era.

Traditionally they were painted, background and serial, sometime around the SIII/101 era they started using stickers.  The divisional and military district stickers etc were printed in large quantities and are a little smaller than the 6" x 6" of the holder.  The ones with the unit serial and corps background are printed for individual units in very small quantities and are often the full 6" x 6" size.  Some may even be cut down from the 8 1/2" X 9" size for the trucks.

With vinyl printing the number serial and and corps background are printed at the same time.

The low viz serials and signs are stencilled in standard sizes.

[ffr79]

Thanks for that Diana , sorry didn’t really explain it too well
Was the 6x6 plate the stickers were put on that slid into the tac holder
were they painted before the stickers were put on

Thanks
Jason

[Diana Alan]

Hi Jason

In the olden days from WWI and right through to Vietnam and even after that.  The tac signs were painted either directly onto the vehicles or onto the small 6x6 size squares for the cars and Land Rovers etc or onto the 8 1/2" wide x 9" tall signs for the trucks.

When they started printing adhesive stickers, in the hundreds or thousands for the 1 Div etc, the stickers were a little smaller than the 6X6 size of the plate.  However when units had individual stickers made for their unit/regiment, sometimes they were made the same size as the Divisional sticker but at other times they were printed in the full 6"x6" size.  This meant that the divisional sticker on a vehicle may be as small as 5"X5" with the unit sign being 6"X6" like yours.

[ffr79]

Thanks for the info Diana

Thanks again
Jason